Pitch

GENRE

- Thriller

- Post-apocalyptic

- Zombies

- I Am Legend (Lawrence, 2007)

- Infected People

NOIR?

- Shadows (venetian blinds and bannister rods)

- Low-key lighting

- Partial obscuring

- Trench coats & trilby hat

- Smoking

ZOMBIES

- Move away from 'zombie shooter'

- Believable plot: verisimilitude

- 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002):

- Humanised zombie theme

- Emotive characters

Film Idea

HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE

HIGH PRODUCTION VALUES?

- Several cinematic techniques:

- Desaturation

- High or low contrast filter

- Prosthetics & realistic make-up (wax scars)

Preliminary Task

CONTINUITY TECHNIQUES

- Cut on action

- 180 degree rule

- Eyeline match

- Soundbridges

- Reaction shots

- Shot/reverse shot

EVALUATION

Strengths:

180 degree rule, camera framing and positioning, and the colour correction - adding an air of verisimilitude to the final cut.

Weaknesses:

Shooting 2 or 3 seconds either side of the action for post-production to be easier.

Targets:

Aim to shoot 3 seconds before the action.

Opening Analysis

I Am Legend (Lawrence, 2007)

- Using 'infected' characters adds to the verisimilitude

Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2004)

- Rhythmic sound & silence maintain tension

Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009)

- Slow motion shots are incredibly effective:

Misfits (Crowe, 2010)

- Industrial, urban location with a desaturated filter

The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008)

- Antagonists - prevalence. Who will we give prevalence?

- Protagonist

Twixtor

TWIXTOR

Twixtor intelligently slows down, speeds up

or changes the frame rate of your image sequences

Twixtor warps the footage by adding additional frames into the sequence.

It does this by looking at the frames in your sequence, copying them several times, and changes certain pixels in the frame.

Technical Analysis

Fast cutting rate (27 shots in 2 minutes)

- Creates tension

- More cinematic

Movement in almost every shot

- Cinematic

Extremely slow cutting rate (4 shots in 2 minutes)

- Long duration of shot builds tension

- Different: most shots in films are roughly 6 seconds long

MCU positions audience with protagonist

Positioning of camera affects mood of shot

& audience's perception of characters

- Low/high angle

- Connoting power or hierarchy

TREATMENT

December 2014. The nuclear power plant Nine Mile Point had a mass meltdown causing a nuclear plague throughout the United Kingdom. The deadly virus spread and infected the majority of England’s population, causing people to flee the cities from the hoards of infected. Now, just over a year on in March 2016, the plague has spread further, and a survivor - Jack Lyle - must leave his sub-urban hometown in hope of safety elsewhere.

PROPS &

Penknife

Rucksack

Sleeping bag

COSTUME

Ordinary clothes

Dark coloured

Boots

LOCATION

Misfits (Crowe, 2010)

- Industrial, urban look

- Sharp edged architecture

- Bland colour palette: grey and black

- Concrete

Multi-story carpark

Tunbridge Wells

STORYBOARD

These are 6 iconic stills for our opening.

TITLE

The title for our film is 'Nine Mile Point'.

This is because there is a real nuclear power station called Nine Mile Point in USA - makes film more realistic.

FONT

The font of a film can either reveal or hide information about the film.

Brick (Johnson, 2005) has a very simple serif font which isn't very 'in-your-face'.

Font: FUTURIST FIXED-WIDTH

- Simple

- Sans serif: more modern

- Doesn't reveal much about the film

Font: OPTIMUS PRINCEPS

- Simple

- Serif: professional

- Doesn't reveal much about the film

Font: CARVE YOUR TABLE

- Sketchy look: not simple

- Generic horror film font

- Reveals the genre of the film

Website used: www.dafont.com

Concept Development

SOUND

Orchestral music.

We have made a 2 minute long soundtrack for our opening which we may or may not use.

Sound FX

We have used the school recording studio to create zombie noises using apples, crisps and voice manipulation effects.

Research Evaluation

Audience Research

31 RESPONSES

- A male protagonist is important

- Most voted 'Carpark' as best location

- There was a tie between 'High/Low Contrast' & 'None'

- Target Audience: 16+

PITCH

Font: FUTURIST FIXED-WIDTH